Yusuf Pathan

He is having a shockingly bad world cup with the bat, he tries to smash the ball out of the ground every ball he faces at the end of the innings. When he could be more selective and wait for the bad balls and pick up his ones and twos and keep good strike rate. His part time off spin are crap. India look a batsman short to me which is concerning me as a indian supporter.

More like the bowlers know their man now. If I am a selector, I'll make sure that I pick a tall, fast, wild bowler who could deliver chin music if playing against India. I'd certainly unleash him against the middle order of India with Yuvraj, Dhoni, Pathan and Raina.

Member of the Sanga fan club. (Ugh! it took me so long to become a real fan of his)

Yusuf is a fairly limited cricketer IMO.He's not immensely talented like his brother,and his weaknesses were going to become obvious soon.Having said that,there isn't a bigger hitter in the Indian team than him so i doubt if he'll get dropped.The Indian top order is set in stone,and for good reason too -it's too damn good to alter.So moving Yusuf up the order is not an option either.I guess you just have to wait and hope that he comes good with the bat.You don't rely on it,but if it comes good it's awesome.Kind of like Afridi's batting.

Not sure if Yousuf has been worked out as is being suggested. He got a brilliant yorker in the last game, and in the match before that, he got out trying to loft the ball over the in-field. That's basically his role in the side : to go nuts from ball one and to bowl four-five tidy overs of off spin. There will be times when he gets out to seemingly stupid shots, and there will be times when he hits crazy hundreds from hopeless situations. He will never be very consistent, we have to accept that. Think of him as an Afridi-like player; better batsman and inferior bowler.

Just don't think Yousuf is someone who can come in and go from ball one. Unfortunately thats his role in the side. He has played wonderfully well when he got some time in the middle to get in. But hard to see that happening with the kind of batting line up India have. Reminds me of Andrew Symonds. Symonds once promoted to number 4 or 5 got more time in the crease and started to play as a proper batsman who can go for it later int he innings once he is set. Thats when he has scored most of his runs. But probably better technique than what Yousuf has.

With India's batting line-up they can afford to carry Pathan in the hope he has a good day.

Yeah this is pretty much the crux of it. I don't personally think Pathan is that great a player but he serves a matchwinning role. He can smash an attack out of the game whether this is when India are on top or to bring them back into the game, it doesn't seem to matter too much. However he is also just as likely to fail when India are dominating as when they are struggling.

Yusuf was never an ideal specialist batsman. He shouldn't have been played as one. He's better off as a stock off-spinner who can bat lower down. He could have been used as a full-fledged all-rounder in the mould of Gayle, Pollard Afridi, Razzaq, Wright, Collingwood, Styris or Matthews. These players are doing well for their teams, but in this one, Dhoni prefers part-time rubbish over Yusuf, and hardly gives him an innings, so his performance has suffered. He's a casualty of poor planning and unhelpful leadership, more than a very mediocre player.

He's at best an attacking number seven, and possibly the best in a long time, but that means he practically never gets to bat long enough, except when the team is in deep trouble- and he's often rescured them, nearly winning a match each time. His value as a bowler is critical- he relieves the batsmen of bowling duty, and is comparable to some of the more regular bowlers (particularly Jadeja, Praveen, Munaf, Nehra and even Harbhajan- these bowl utter tripe almost all the time and still finish ten overs) but was never given the chance. He has had more bowling innings than batting, so he could have played as a regular bowler, but Dhoni's captaincy seems to give him no room at all. Possibly India's best and most relevant all-rounder, but it seems to take a lot more to please Dhoni.

He's not utter rubbish as some of us make him out to be during this World Cup. He's not of the same class as a Sehwag, Gambhir or Kohli, nor as good a bowler as Zaheer or Ashwin, but as someone who's got the goods to do a dual duty, he's the best you can get. With Tendulkar and Zaheer not likely to carry on after the World Cup, he's surely a lot more relevant than recent dismissals attempting sixes suggests.

"Talent is nothing without opportunity"
"You're not remembered for aiming at the target, but hitting it"

Yeah but with late collapses becoming a habit with India, it was a good decision to replace him with Raina. I am still a tad split between Pathan and Kohli though for a place in the XI.

I think Raina is a better option in India where the ball doesn't move around or bounce as much. Yusuf a better option away from home IMO

And smalishah's avatar is the most classy one by far Jan certainly echoes the sentiments of CW

Yeah we don't crap in the first world; most of us would actually have no idea what that was emanating from Ajmal's backside. Why isn't it roses and rainbows like what happens here? PEWS's retort to Ganeshran on Daemon's picture depicting Ajmal's excreta

Yusuf was never an ideal specialist batsman. He shouldn't have been played as one. He's better off as a stock off-spinner who can bat lower down. He could have been used as a full-fledged all-rounder in the mould of Gayle, Pollard Afridi, Razzaq, Wright, Collingwood, Styris or Matthews. These players are doing well for their teams, but in this one, Dhoni prefers part-time rubbish over Yusuf, and hardly gives him an innings, so his performance has suffered. He's a casualty of poor planning and unhelpful leadership, more than a very mediocre player.

He's at best an attacking number seven, and possibly the best in a long time, but that means he practically never gets to bat long enough, except when the team is in deep trouble- and he's often rescured them, nearly winning a match each time. His value as a bowler is critical- he relieves the batsmen of bowling duty, and is comparable to some of the more regular bowlers (particularly Jadeja, Praveen, Munaf, Nehra and even Harbhajan- these bowl utter tripe almost all the time and still finish ten overs) but was never given the chance. He has had more bowling innings than batting, so he could have played as a regular bowler, but Dhoni's captaincy seems to give him no room at all. Possibly India's best and most relevant all-rounder, but it seems to take a lot more to please Dhoni.

He's not utter rubbish as some of us make him out to be during this World Cup. He's not of the same class as a Sehwag, Gambhir or Kohli, nor as good a bowler as Zaheer or Ashwin, but as someone who's got the goods to do a dual duty, he's the best you can get. With Tendulkar and Zaheer not likely to carry on after the World Cup, he's surely a lot more relevant than recent dismissals attempting sixes suggests.